SHE – THE FLEMISH PROGRAM ON ENGINEERED SELF-HEALING
MATERIALS
N. De Belie 1,5, F. Du Prez 2,5, H. Terryn 3,5, B. Wallaeys 4,5
1
Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Ghent University, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 904, 9052 Ghent, Belgium – e-mail: nele.debelie@ugent.be
2
Polymer Chemistry Research Group, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 – S4 bis, 9000 Ghent, Belgium – e-mail: filip.duprez@ugent.be
3
Electrochemical and Surface Engineering Research Group, VUB, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium – e-mail: hterryn@vub.ac.be
4
Recticel, Damstraat 2, 9032 Wetteren, Belgium – e-mail: wallaeys.bart@recticel.com 5
SIM vzw, Technologiepark 935, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
Keywords: self-healing, concrete, polymers, coatings ABSTRACT
The vision of this program SHE is to develop new and combined smart self-healing concepts, fully resulting in durable and sustainable materials with an expanded life-time of at least 50%. SHE focusses on three different material classes, which cover an important part of the Flemish industry:
- Cementitious and mineral building elements are studied in the strategic basic research project (SBO) ‘SECEMIN’. Within this project, a proof-of-concept for self-healing concrete with encapsulated polymeric / bacterial healing agents has already been obtained.
- Polymers and composites are studied in the SBO ‘SEPOCOM’. A dual microcapsule approach with a new healing chemistry and novel encapsulation technologies has led to quite promising self-healing results for epoxy resins. - Coatings are investigated in the SBO ‘NAPROM’. Within this project coating
demonstrators are developed that combine self-healing polymers and new encapsulated inhibitors for corrosion protection of metals.
To stimulate early valorization, industrial projects are linked to the SBO projects: - SHEcon (linked to SECEMIN), which aims at structural and architectural
applications. The goal of this project is to engineer self-healing concrete to minimize the appearance of cracks in the outer cladding of concrete sandwich panels, in order to maintain the impermeability and mechanical response. - PUrePAIR (linked to SEPOCOM), which aims at the development of
self-healing polyurethane foams and elastomers. The self-self-healing capacity is obtained by adding especially designed capsules with a newly developed chemistry as healing agent.
- SHREC (linked to NAPROM and SEPOCOM), which aims at the development of self-healing coatings that can heal micro- and macroscratches. A series of healing procedures to be tested for a range of commercial coating systems (thermal, UV, self-crosslinking) are being investigated.
The consortium is well balanced to carry out the scientific and technological developments. Research groups of Ghent University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Antwerp and FLAMAC bring in their expertise. A strong industrial involvement (Recticel, Devan Chemicals, Willy Naessens Construct, Cytec, Bekaert and Arcelor Mittal) ensures the market orientation and exploitation of the results.
